Senior Economic Analyst

Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI)

UK/US

2014 - Current

• A non-profit think tank providing technical assistance, training, applied research on extractive sector management and governance.
• I advise policy makers on economic decisions faced by resource-rich countries in Ghana, Guyana, Mongolia, Uganda and Tanzania. (See country policy articles)
• I lead NRGI’s global work on resource revenue management, coordinating and overseeing technical assistance, research and training delivery on the topic.
• Designed the methodology of World Bank’s Mining Investment and Governance Review, contributed to building data projects including Resource Governance Index, ResourceProjects.org, NationalOilCompanyData.org.

Research Fellow

Central European University, School of Public Policy

Hungary

2016 - Current

• My research centers on macroeconomic challenges facing resource-rich countries.
• I teach development economics & resource revenue management. I am a lead faculty at 2 week long professional course ‘Reversing the Resource Curse: Theory and Practice’ at CEU. (See teaching and trainings)
• I present my research at academic and policy conferences (incl. IMF and World Bank seminars).

Member of Budget Committee

General Assembly of Budapest

Hungary

2019 - Current

• Appointed by the elected members of the General Assembly of Budapest (capital city with a population of 2 million) to sit on the budget committee as an external expert member.
• I review draft proposals and amendments relating to the capital city’s public finances ahead of tabling them in the General Assembly.
• I provide advice on strategic decisions facing the city’s public finances.

Economist, ODI Fellow

Budget Bureau, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development

Sierra Leone

2013 - 2011

• Placement through ODI Fellowship scheme sponsored by UK government.
• Main responsibility was to support budget planning and monitoring by providing analytical reports, forecasts and briefing senior government officials.
• Updated macro-fiscal projections, made budget impact evaluations, advised in discussions with donors, consultants and multilateral institutions, wrote briefing material ahead of IMF missions.
• I made major contributions to mineral taxation evaluation and forecasting, medium-term macroeconomic projections and developing a proposal for a new fiscal rule for Sierra Leone.

Junior Economist

Fiscal analysis team, Central Bank of Hungary

Hungary

2011 - 2011

• Main task was to provide budgetary forecasts for the Inflation Report and provide regular assessment of newly arising budget proposals and fiscal developments.
• Worked on improving forecasting methodologies and provided briefings to the Monetary Council of the Bank.

Junior Economist

Office of the Fiscal Council

Hungary

2010 - 2009

• Joined this newly set up independent state institution tasked with making fiscal analysis and budget projections for Parliament.
• Main task was to gather data, develop methodology and then provide budgetary forecasts of spending side.
• The institution was dissolved a year later after a change of government.

Junior Economist (Intern)

Department for Work and Pensions

UK

2009 - 2009

• Enrolled through the Government Economic Service program for a 3-month internship
• I worked on assessing the effectiveness of social policies targeting the elderly.

Microeconometrics Summer School

Barcelona Graduate School of Economics

Spain

2010 - 2010

• Studied impact evaluation and other empirical techniques.

Msc in Economics and Development Economics

University of Nottingham

UK

2009 - 2008

• Graduated with merit

MA Program in Economics. Major: World Economics

Corvinus University of Budapest (CUB)

Hungary

2008 - 2002

• Graduated with merit.
• Advanced Mathematics, Economics.

College

Rajk László College for Advanced Studies

Hungary

2008 - 2004

• Graduated with distinction.
• Head of the Council for Academic Activities - Elected to lead five-person team responsible for the organization of courses, other academic activities for college members.

Erasmus Scholarship

IEP Sciences Po, Paris

France

2006 - 2005

• Studied social sciences and international development (in French).

Resource-Backed Loans: Pitfalls and Potential

Natural Resource Governance Institute

N/A

2020 - 2020

• Authored with Jyhjong Hwang, Aisha Adam
• Analysis of public finance risks related to resource backed lending based on original dataset.
• Featured in Reuters,Quartz Africa
• Cited by IMF Policy Paper 20/003

Massive and Misunderstood: Data-Driven Insights into National Oil Companies

Natural Resource Governance Institute

N/A

2019 - 2019

• Authored with Patrick Heller
• Analysis of original dataset on the balance sheet of 71 national oil companies
• Op-ed in Foreign Policy,
• Cited by IMF Fiscal Monitor April 2020

Hidden Giants

Finance and Development, IMF

N/A

2019 - 2019

• Authored with Patrick Heller, David Manley
• Discussion of risks related to national oil companies in light of energy transition.

Premature Funds: How Overenthusiasm and Bad Advice Can Leave Countries Poorer

Natural Resource Governance Institute

N/A

2018 - 2018

• Authored with Andrew Bauer
• Discussion of risks related to establishing Sovereign Wealth Funds in countries with no sizable net savings.
• Short summary on IMF PFM blog

The Presource Curse

Finance and Development, IMF

N/A

2018 - 2018

• Authored with James Cust
• Summary and policy implications of our research on short-term growth impacts of giant oil discoveries.

How did fiscal rules hold up in the commodity price crash?

Natural Resource Governance Institute

N/A

2018 - 2018

• Authored with Liliana Fernandez
• Analysis of fiscal rule compliance in resource rich countries
• Short summary on IMF PFM blog

Mining Investment and Governance Review

World Bank (Extractives Global Practice)

N/A

2016 - 2016

• Lead on methodology and questionnaire design.
• The Mining Investment and Governance Review was a WB analytical tool designed to strengthen the mining sector’s governance, investment environment and development impact.

Challenges and Opportunities in Managing Guyana’s Oil Wealth

Oil, Gas & Energy Law

N/A

2020 - 2020

• Authored with Andrew Bauer
• Analysis of Guyana’s proposed framework for managing oil wealth.

Uncertain Potential: Managing Tanzania’s Gas Revenues

Book Chapter in Governing Petroleum ResourcesProspects and Challenges for Tanzania. Ed: Chr. Michelsen institute & REPOA.

N/A

2019 - 2019

• Authored with Thomas Scurfield
• Analysis of the viability of Tanzania’s gas sector and its potential impact on public finance.
• Underlying discounted cash flow model of LNG project available open source

Optimizing Ghana’s Fiscal Rule

Natural Resource Governance Institute

N/A

2017 - 2017

• Authored with Aisha Adam
• Discussion of fiscal rule options for Ghana

Mongolia Fiscal Sustainability Report

Natural Resource Governance Institute

N/A

2017 - 2017

• Authored with Andrew Bauer, Ragchaasuren Galindev, Munkh-Orgil Lkhagvajav and Nomuuntugs Tuvaan
• Analysis of long-term debt sustainability outlook of Monoglia in light of large mining sector investments
• Underlying macro-fiscal model [available open source] (https://resourcegovernance.org/analysis-tools/tools/mongolia-macro-fiscal-model)

Mongolia Macro-Fiscal Model

Natural Resource Governance Institute

N/A

2017 - 2017

• Authored with Daniel Baksa, Balazs Romhanyi
• Description and documentation of model used for Mongolia Sustainability Reports
• A small-scale, semi-structural macroeconomic model providing long-term projections of mining sector, fiscal and economic variables. All built in Excel and available open source

An empirical analysis of the fiscal effects of fuel taxation

Economic Bulletin, Government of Sierra Leone

N/A

2013 - 2013

• An analysis of Sierra Leone’s fuel pricing system.
• Analysis prepared to inform phasing out of fuel subsidies.

Text-mining IMF country reports – An Original Dataset

MPRA Paper No. 100656

N/A

2019 - 2019

• Authored with Akos Mate
• Demonstration of a novel dataset based on text of IMF Article IV reports to study fiscal policy adoption.
• Presented at Political Economy of International Organization (PEIO) 2019 and CSAE 2019 conference.

Bust before the boom? Macroeconomic responses to oil discoveries

N/A

N/A

2019 - 2019

• Authored with James Cust, Mohamed Diaby, Torfinn Harding
• Empirical assessment of the differential borrowing response of countries to giant oil discoveries
• Accepted for presentation at CSAE 2020 conference.

Evidence for a presource curse? Oil discoveries, elevated expectations, and growth disappointments

Policy Research Working Paper Series 8140, World Bank.

N/A

2017 - 2017

• Authored with James Cust
• Empirical assessment of short-term growth impacts of giant oil discoveries
• Featured in The Economist
• Cited by IMF Guidance Note on the Bank-Fund Debt Sustainability Framework for Low Income Countries 2018

Daron Acemoglu the winner of the 2007 János Neumann Prize of the László Rajk Specialist College

Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences).

N/A

2008 - 2008

• With Reka Juhasz and Gyozo Gyongyosi
• Piece written to summarize the research of Daron Acemoglu and announcing his prize acceptance lecture at my former college.
• Also served as an introduction to a book I co-edited translating his selected works into Hungarian, published as “The origins of economic development – a selection of the works of Daron Acemoglu”

Development Economics

Department of Economics, Eötvös Loránd University

Hungary

2018 - Current

• Lecture to undergraduate students

Development Economics

Rajk Laszlo College, HU

Hungary

2017 - Current

• Small group seminars

Intermediate Macroeconomics lecture

Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

2013 - 2012

• Lecture to undergraduate students

Comparative Economics

Comparative Economics Department, Corvinus University

Hungary

2007 - 2007

• Teaching assistant

Delivered training at the IMF course at CEF Kuwait, NRGI courses in Accra, Budapest, Istanbul, Yaounde (in French). Other trainings/hackathons led in Harare, Lagos, London, Washington DC.

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World Bank Extractives Industries Week (DC), IMF seminar at FAD & Forum on Resource-Rich Economies (DC), Interdisciplinary Sovereign Debt Research and Management (DebtCon) Conference (DC), Data for Policy (Cambridge), CSAE (Oxford), ICMM tax seminar (London), International Open Data Conference (Mexico City), CERGIED workshop on Chinese investments in Central Africa (N’Djamena), CEU research seminar (Budapest), LCPS conference on Governance, Macroeconomics and Diversification in MENA (Beirut), .

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